UEFA Preliminary Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26: procedures and seedings confirmed

FIFA National Team UEFA
by Antoine Busuttil

Following the publication of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking, the seedings and procedures for the UEFA Preliminary Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26, scheduled for December, have been confirmed.

UEFA Nations League quarter-finalists Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain and will be joined in Pot 1 by best-ranked UEFA nations England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. The remaining teams are allocated to pots 2 to 5 according to the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking.

Photo: © www.stephengatt.com

The UEFA qualifying group stage will begin in March 2025 and conclude in November 2025. It will follow a familiar format, with 12 groups of four or five teams, and the group winners securing a place at the FIFA World Cup. The four remaining places will then be decided in March 2026 in a 16-team UEFA play-off involving the 12 group-stage runners-up and the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League 2024-25 group winners that have neither qualified directly for the FIFA World Cup as group winners nor entered the play-offs already as group runners-up.

Malta is one of the teams in Pot 5 and will therefore be drawn in a group of five teams (Groups G to L).

To allow the parallel scheduling of European Qualifiers and UEFA Nations League matches in March and June 2025, the following conditions are implemented for the allocation of teams to either groups of four or five:

Pot 1: The four UNL QF winners (one placeholder for each UNL QF pairing) must be drawn into a group of four (Groups A to F). The UNL QF defeated teams (one placeholder for each UNL QF pairing) as well as all other teams included in Pot 1 can be drawn into any of the groups (Groups A to L).

Pots 2, 3 and 4: The UNL PO participants from these pots can be drawn into groups of four (Groups A to F) or into groups of five (Groups G to L), provided such group is able to contain such UNL PO team, since each group of five can hold a maximum of one UNL PO team or one UNL QF defeated team.

Pot 5: The teams of Pot 5 are drawn into groups of five (Groups G to L).

POT 1POT 2POT 3
France* (QF pairing : Croatia)
Spain* (QF pairing : Netherlands)
England
Portugal* (QF pairing : Denmark)
Netherlands* (QF pairing : Spain)
Belgium**
Italy* (QF pairing : Germany)
Germany* (QF pairing : Italy)
Croatia* (QF pairing : France)
Switzerland
Denmark* (QF pairing : Portugal)
Austria**		Ukraine **
Sweden
Türkiye **
Wales
Hungary **
Serbia **
Poland
Romania
Greece **
Slovakia **
Czechia
Norway		Scotland **
Slovenia **
Republic of Ireland **
Albania
North Macedonia
Georgia **
Finland
Iceland **
Northern Ireland
Montenegro
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Israel
POT 4POT 5
Bulgaria **
Luxembourg
Belarus
Kosovo **
Armenia **
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan
Estonia
Cyprus
Faroe Islands
Latvia
Lithuania		Moldova
Malta
Andorra
Gibraltar
Liechtenstein
San Marino

* UNL QF teams: for the draw, each pairing will be identified once as “UNL QF winner” and once as “UNL QF defeated team”
** UNL PO teams (playing in March 2025)

As per the draw procedures, the draw will begin with Pot 1 and continue with Pot 2 through to Pot 5. Each pot will be completely emptied before moving on to the next pot. In general, and for each pot, the teams drawn will be placed in ascending order from Group A to Group L.

From Pot 1, Malta could therefore be drawn with either one of the losing quarter-finalists of the UEFA Nations League, play-off participants Belgium and Austria, England and Switzerland.

If Malta is not paired with England and Switzerland, the boys in red cannot be drawn with any of the other teams from Pots 2, 3 and 4 who are taking part in the play-offs (Ukraine, Türkiye, Hungary, Serbia, Greece, Slovakia, Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Georgia, Iceland, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Armenia).

The draw will take place Friday, 13 December and be streamed live on FIFA.com.